Ashes to Ashes
by Dior Crystal
Summary: Grimmjow could only watch helplessly as the one person he ever cared about slowly turned into ashes. Shounen ai. GrimmUlqui. Slight spoilers.


I could only watch as the one person that I ever cared for slowly turn into ashes while that damned shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki and that Inoue bitch just stood there . He turned to look at me with that stoic expression that I knew so well. But his emerald orbs told me something else. His eyes were apologetic, begging for my forgiveness, full of sadness. Then he was gone. His ashes blown away by the wind.

He did not need to apologize. I did not blame him for what had happened.

I scrambled up to catch some of his ashes, but they slid out of my fingers. Every evidence of his existence were gone.

I had to restrain a strangled sob.

Why did you have to go?

My eyes full of tears, my body shaking, I turned to face that idiot Vaizard. Even in my weak condition, what with the wounds that Kurosaki and Nnoitra had inflicted on me earlier, I forced myself to move. Each step I took was torturous, my blood dripping to the ground, but I pressed on anyway. The orange haired boy just watched me, alarmed. Alarmed to see me crying? Alarmed to see his dying enemy forcing himself to walk? Alarmed to see how pathetic I looked?

How would I know?

"Grimmjow! You shouldn't be moving! You will die that way!" he shouted.

I ignored him. Why should he care anyways?

When I was a few feet away from the young Vaizard, I stood on wobbly legs, my head dizzy from blood loss and my body unable to move forward anymore no matter how much I commanded it to.

_As I reached for my zanpaktou to kill that blasted Ichigo Kurosaki, you placed your pale hand over mine. "Enough, Grimmjow," you said. Then you brought me back to Hueco Mundo. I was furious. I struggled in your grasp, trying to break free to finish my battle with that damned Vaizard. I snarled, I scratched, I punched, and I kicked. You still did not let me go._

_Instead, you just watched me with those melancholic emerald eyes. "You are injured, Grimmjow," you said smoothly. "You need sufficient rest."_

"_Fuck you!" I glared at you._

_But I followed you anyway._

Then I said the words that I had been wanting to say. "You killed him," I said quietly, my hands balled up into fists.

_You kept me company while I recovered from my battle wounds. You came to see me every day and even though I told you piss off and go to hell at first, I was actually glad for your company. You would loyally come to take care of me and made sure that I did not exert myself. You brought me food, made sure that I ate well, that I had sufficient rest. _

_At first, we did not talk to each other but after awhile, we began to open up to one another. In the beginning, you only talked to me about what was happening in the outside world. Sometimes we would talk about trivial things to take our minds off of the impending war. Later, you began telling me about your past life. How you were like in your past life. Intimate stuff._

_I thought that after I recovered from my wounds, we would not speak to each other like that again. And that fact made my heart heavy. But you proved me wrong when you came to see me even after I was released from the medical room. _

_By that time we had already established a strong bond with one another._

"…" He just looked at me through his brown eyes, silent. I felt like scratching his eyeballs out. Then he said, "Maybe…" he stopped, then said lamely, "Maybe he went off to regenerate himself somewhere…?"

I wanted him to burn alive at that spot.

_Emerald orbs were raised to look into my own cerulean ones. "It is time to go for battle. The shinigami and his friends have arrived," you said. "Aizen-sama has commanded me to finish off Ichigo Kurosaki."_

_I clutched at your white hands, not wanting to let go. I had a bad feeling about this. Something horrible was about to happen, I just knew it. "Please, don't go." I looked at you pleadingly. I pulled you into a bone breaking hug, closing my eyes, taking in your scent. I wanted us to stay in that position forever. I did not want you to go. Never._

"YOU KILLED HIM!" I screamed, unable to contain myself. This act only served to make me choke out blood from my mouth. "You… you killed Ulquiorra," I finished softly. My tears were flowing freely from my face.

_When I finally released you from my crushing embrace, you reached up to cup my cheek. "I have to go. This will never end if we don't put a stop to the shinigami." _

_I bit my bottom lip, forcing down the tears that were threatening to spring up to my cerulean eyes. I knew that you were right. As always. But I did not want to admit it. "Ulquiorra…" I touched your doll-like face, tracing the contours of your face, touching that flawless porcelain white skin that I loved so much. I wanted to imprint your image in my mind forever._

"_Grimmjow." You pushed a strand of teal hair from my eyes. "No matter what happens, we will always be together. You are a part of me, and I am a part of you. If anything happens, we will never truly be apart." You bit your bottom lip. Truth was, you did not know whether we were going to come out of this in one piece. I could tell. I knew you were saying this for me more than anything else. And I was grateful for that. "I love you, Grimmjow. I always will." You placed a soft kiss on my lips, our eyes fluttering close at the sweetness of the moment. _

_And then you left for battle._

Ulquiorra was gone.

My body was shaking. I glared at Kurosaki with hate filled eyes.

Was it possible that what Kurosaki said was true? I knew that Ulquiorra possessed regenerative abilities.

But it did not matter.

Because I swore to protect him. To kill anyone who dared to lay a finger on him. I roared, and with my remaining energy, I lunged forward towards Kurosaki, my teeth bared, my zanpaktou unsheathed and ready for battle.

It was time to finish the job that I had set out to do.

_I love you too, Ulquiorra. I will never forget you._

* * *

**A/N:** It's really short, I know. But this is mostly just Grimmjow's thoughts. What _really_ happened to Ulquiorra? I want to know! :( Review if you want.


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